#Commentary of Sergey Rura on aggravation of Ukraine’s inner political clashes

02.08.2017

The tension between pro-government groups in Ukraine is increasing. The confrontation between Pyotr Poroshenko and Interior Minister Arsen Avakov never ceased. Now, when they managed to eliminate a common political rival, Georgian barnstormer Mikhail Saakashvili, the competition between them has increased dramatically.

Vice-Commander of the DPR People’s Militia Eduard Basurin said that on August 5, Avakov was expected to arrive in the ‘ATO’ zone with the purpose of visiting units of the National Guard loyal to him personally. Eduard Basurin also noted that “the chair under him (Avakov – Ed.) began to rock.”

Over the past months, both Poroshenko and Avakov have carried out personnel reshuffles in law enforcement agencies in order to earn support from loyal people in key positions. So, for example, in May of this year Poroshenko changed the SBU chiefs in six regions. On July 15, in Transcarpathia, the Ukrainian president replaced the governor, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the SBU and the border guard service. On July 16, Arsen Avakov was the first to report on his Facebook page on the assignment of Abroskin (at that time the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Donetsk region) to a position of first deputy head of the chief of the Ukraine’s National Police. Each of them is in a hurry to replace not entirely loyal to them managers to trusted persons.

For the Donbass, such a confrontation can have different consequences. Realizing that Avakov will use his loyal people in any convenient situation to organize another coup, Poroshenko can initiate an escalation of hostilities in the Donbass with the goal of ‘grinding’ military units of the Azov regiment loyal to the minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (an organization banned in the DPR – Ed.) during the clashes with the Armed Forces of the Donbass People’s Republics. Avakov, for his part, will avoid this situation in every possible way and wait for a time convenient for the mutiny.

And this moment, judging by the economic situation in Ukraine, will not be long in coming. In the struggle for the remnants of a broken trough, into which the Kiev authorities turned Ukraine, these two can send to death any number of Ukrainians. The question is, when the latter will realize that they are not obliged to give their lives for the interests of the oligarchs-criminals in power.